Dean Christakos« More on Archbishop Iakovos | Main | Reflections on July 4th »
April 30, 2005
Central Square on a Friday Night
For those of you who were wondering what the commotion in Central Square was on Friday evening around 9:30, it was the congregations of St. Mary (Antiochian) Orthodox Church and Ss. Constantine and Helen (Greek) Orthodox Church gathering at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Prospect Street for a Jets vs. Sharks-style rumble.
Ok, not really. Actually, Friday was Orthodox Good Friday, owing to the continued use of the Julian calendar for calculating such things, and the two Orthodox Churches in Central Square decided to have a joint procession during their services.
Posted by Dean at April 30, 2005 12:22 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.christakos.com/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/79
Comments
Is it because of the Julian calendar?
I thought it was because the Romans do the 1st full moon after the equinox and the Orthodox do the 1st full moon after the 1st new moon after the equinox, which gets us always coming near and after passover (which was 24 April this year, after western easter). So, being calculated from the Hebrew calendar, it uses neither the Gregorian nor Julian calendar.
We didn't merge processions, so I imagine the Lowell police were quite busy Friday blocking off streets for the 4 Greek + 1 Antiochian Orthodox churches in town.
Posted by: de at May 1, 2005 10:18 AM
Well, I simplified the explanation... it's a combination of the Hebrew calendar and the Julian solar Calendar-- the Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox after Passover. And "Spring equinox" is fixed on the date "March 21st" on the Julian Calendar... which is April 3rd on the Gregorian Calendar. If the Sunday after the first full moon after April 3rd is on a date that falls before Passover, they wait for the next full moon. More info here.
Posted by: Constantine at May 1, 2005 8:29 PM